Another difference between SkyEurope and WIZZ was, that WIZZ had a strategy that worked out, done by a professional management. Wizz was, like SkyEurope, also a new startup company, low-cost, and from Central Europe. I don't even think that the Airbusses gave them a signifficant head-start over Sky's classic Threesevens.
SkyEurope just went by "try-and-error", often changing their plans from black to white within only a few months. Many of their management were just plain incompetent, or over estimated themselves and the company's strength. Instead of develloping their own market-segment where they hardly had any competition, they chose to attack their competitors. As if they had stood any chance against Ryanair and the like.
Other things were self-made problems. For example, the installation of Espresso-Machines in their new aircraft; ridiculously expensive, totally useless, and quietly removed again - the investment gone to waste.
Or ridiculous investments of millions into one particular base, re-locating employees, spending on advertising and infrastructure, then closing it down just a year later. They also opened their own ground-handling company on one occasion, bought seccond-hand junk from different airports throughout western Europe. Most of this equipment never actually worked, but stood around on the airport for a few months, rusting and rotting. Until that base was also closed down one year later.
Or operating flights from Vienna to Innsbruck, advertising themselves as Central Europe's first low-cost carrier on a domestic route in Austria. Guess why!
SkyEurope had several good chances in the beginning. And for a few years, it even looked quite prosperous, when the got more and more aircraft and the load-factors increased. They were popular and got good feed-back from passengers (according to Skytrax). Many minor problems, like on-time-performance or old aircraft interior, were generously forgiven; newspapers and aviation magazines were quite welcoming towards the new company. SkyEurope's service really stood out against the dull, unfriendly "service" of famous other lo-co airlines.
When they started replacing the old "classics" with new "NGs", went on the stock-market and got a new management, things went downhill. They failed to expand, wasted too much time and money on ideas that weren't thought through properly, had internal fights for competence, and so gradually lost ground to everyone else.
SkyEuropes end now is not unexpected or surprising. It came slowly and gradually. In fact, many of us expected this to happen years ago.
Funny how everybody saw it, except for those being responsible.